I have a different situation but wonder if the Impact Twin box and Pure Music software would be beneficial for playing digital music:

I now have: iMacG5, iTunes->Airport Express-> BC9300->BL8000

Would this be better?: iMacG5, PureMusic->FW400 port->Impact Twin->BC9300->BL8000

I use airport express from iTunes not for distance but because it has a fixed line output for the BC9300 (rather than headphone out analog from iMac). It does drop out sometimes as people have said which is annoying.

From what I understand on this thread, this would be better because:

- Impact Twin better DACs than Airport Express

- Core Audio output from iMac better than Quicktime engine

Another thing I wonder- would a CD ripped lossless on the iMac sound better or worse through this method than played on the BC9300's internal CD/DAC circuit!?

The Airport Express has a pretty lousy dac, so you would be better off using the straight headphone out on the iMac, or getting an external soundcard.

About DAC's in the BC9300 VS the iMac with/without soundcard... I'm guessing it will be a matter of personal opinion. The DAC in the BC9300 is probably a good quality one, so I wouldn't worry about that.

bayerische:

The Airport Express has a pretty lousy dac, so you would be better off using the straight headphone out on the iMac, or getting an external soundcard.

About DAC's in the BC9300 VS the iMac with/without soundcard... I'm guessing it will be a matter of personal opinion. The DAC in the BC9300 is probably a good quality one, so I wouldn't worry about that.

This is a bit of surprise because it seems in previous posts folks have expressed fairly low opinions about the DAC in the Mac, or any computer for that matter and that AE was better. I have read also you can use the digital out from the AE and get some better results. But soundproof's remarks got me thinking the core audio to firewire to DAC route might be more optimal. One advantage of AE over the built-in DAC is only music goes out, not all the other dings and dongs the computer makes, and the volume level out is constant and not regulated twice.

I don't have any complaints with the CD player in the 9300 although again various remarks get made about it not being as good of a system as the 9500 had etc.

Tres,  tres cool.  A very attractive and simple exection.  Are u still pleased with the Beolab 5s?  How do u like your video setup from the Nas?  Do u get coverart for both audio and video on Ipad with this? 

 I am in the process of settting up a vacation property.  Beo6 control, is in place but I miss my metadata that I am used to on my home crestron system. Therefore,  am having Iphone/Ipad control programed at present(though having to use pre Os5 devices as no support as yet for 0s5 as I suspect you know).  Any thought you can share are appreciated.  Ron

I have near the same setup as Soundproof and Bayrische - my Beocenter 2 is connected to the Beolab 5. The Sound is coming digital from a mac mini and controlled by ipod touch / ipad. This solutions works perfekt in the mainroom, but i have several Rooms with Beolab 3500 speakers, connected with Masterlink. The Beocenter 2 is configured as Audio Master. Now i will use a Beomaster 7000 as MASTER for open the Digital SPDIF input on the Beolabs and to feed the CD input with analogue signal from the mac mini.

How can i still use my Beocenter 2 for DVD and for Radio (Build in DAB)?

Which options for the Beomaster 7000 as AUDIOMASTER and the Beocenter 2 as SLAVE?

Thanks for any input